How to switch business tools without losing client data

Switching software is mostly an export problem. Contacts move easily; signed contracts, payment history and automations don't. This checklist, part of our tools and costs series, is based on each vendor's own help pages, checked October 18, 2026. If you're still deciding whether to switch at all, all-in-one vs separate tools has the decision table.

What each tool lets you export

What usually doesn't export

• Audit trails as live records. You keep the PDF certificate, but the new tool can't verify an old signature; store the original signed file and certificate together. Our e-signature audit trail guide explains what the certificate proves.
• Automations and workflows. Write each one down as a sentence: trigger, wait, action, condition.
• Templates: proposal sections, email templates, contract text. Copy them into a document.
• Payment links on old invoices. Clients who bookmarked an invoice will still pay through the old tool, which is why you keep it open for a cycle.
• Analytics history: open rates, page views, booking stats. Screenshot what you need for reports.

The cut-over plan, step by step

1. Check the old tool's renewal date and pick it as your end date.
2. Export contacts to CSV and open the file to check names, emails and companies came through.
3. Download every signed contract with its certificate, into one folder per client.
4. Export invoices and payments (CSV or PDF) for your accountant and for open balances.
5. List automations, templates and every place you've shared a link (email signature, website, social bios, printed material).
6. Set up the new tool: contacts, templates, booking page, forms.
7. Send new work from the new tool only. Let open proposals, signature requests and invoices finish in the old one.
8. Replace shared links, then check each one in a private browser window.
9. After the last open invoice is paid, download a final export and cancel the old account.

Telling clients about the switch

Clients don't need to know which software you use, but they notice when emails start coming from a new sender or a booking link changes. Send active clients one short note when you switch: new invoices and documents will come from a new address, open invoices can still be paid through the old link, and here is your new booking page. Don't ask clients to re-sign a contract that's already signed in the old tool; the signed PDF and its certificate are your record. If a client has bookmarked an old portal or booking page, the old tool's cancellation will break it, so time the note a week before you cancel.

Moving into SoloWOS

SoloWOS has no CSV contact import today. Contacts arrive three ways: from forms and bookings (each response or booking creates or updates a contact by email), by hand, or through the API, whose POST /contacts endpoint lets Zapier, Make or a short script load your CSV on a paid plan. Signed contracts from your old tool can be kept as files; new ones go out through send PDFs for e-signature. When you leave SoloWOS, Settings > Data & privacy downloads the whole account in one file, and Forms, Time Tracking and Expenses export CSV.